The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed a new anti-money laundering (AML) rule that requires professionals involved in real estate closings and settlements to report if a residential property is transferred to a legal entity or trust without financing, with seller financing, or with a lender that isn’t required to follow AML guidelines.

Effective on December 1, 2025, the new rule will require a closing/settlement agent in a covered transaction to complete and submit to FinCEN a Real Estate Report with specific information about the transaction. The report must be completed by whoever prepares the settlement statement, or, in the case of a split closing, whoever prepares the buyer's settlement statement.

Reports must be filed by the later date of either: (1) the final day of the month following the month in which the reportable transfer occurred; or (2) 30 calendar days after the date of closing.

See our previous blog post, What the FinCEN Final Rule Means for You, for a full list of the expected required information for reporting.

FinCEN has not yet issued the final version of the Real Estate Report form, but they have released a series of FAQs that can help real estate and title professionals better understand what will be be required for compliance when the rule goes into effect. 

How SoftPro is Preparing for the FinCEN AML Rule

While we're waiting on confirmation of the final rule from FinCEN, SoftPro is preparing our solutions that will take you through the entire process, from data collection with the ALTA FinCEN Buyer/Seller Collection Forms to submission of the Real Estate Report to FinCEN. Beginning in November, we will be in touch with a variety of webinars, instructions for the download and installation of new features, and how-to information that covers everything you need to know about FinCEN AML compliance with SoftPro. 

Stay tuned for more information from us in November, and in the meantime, here is a preview of the ways that SoftPro will be able to help you stay compliant and make reporting your data to FinCEN easier.

FinCEN Bundle
SoftPro Select Edition Only
For storage of certified buyer/seller data and mapping of fields

• FREE for all SoftPro Select customers!
• Custom Fields - to store data from the ALTA FinCEN Buyer/Seller Collection Forms
• Custom MyScreens - organizes the ALTA FinCEN custom fields to assist with data entry and review of the data
• Custom Report - internal tracking report to assist with determining qualifying orders, which orders have been submitted, which orders qualify but have not yet been reported, etc.
• Custom Documents - the ALTA FinCEN Buyer/Seller Collection Forms that you need for certifying the information collected
• SoftPro Select users can also utilize automation and tasking for identifying transactions to be filed, triggering the initiation and/or the review of the data collected, and for status tracking
  

ClosingsLIVE
All Editions of SoftPro
For sending and receiving ALTA FinCEN Buyer/Seller Collection Form data

• Allows you to securely and electronically send the ALTA FinCEN Buyer/Seller Collection forms
• The completed forms are delivered back to you in ClosingsLIVE as a PDF
  The data collected in the forms is mapped back to the custom fields in SoftPro Select
• No additional charge for current ClosingsLIVE users
• Contact SoftPro Sales at 800-848-0143 or sales@softprocorp.com for a demo of all the features ClosingsLIVE has to offer

SoftPro 360
All Editions of SoftPro
For creation of the Real Estate Report and submission to FinCEN

• For ALL editions of SoftPro
• You can use SoftPro 360 to generate the Real Estate Report PDF required for FinCEN
• In SoftPro Select, SoftPro 360 automatically populates the required fields for the Real Estate Report PDF from within your file’s custom fields
• In all editions of SoftPro, the PDF can be generated with manually entered data
• You can then submit the Real Estate Report electronically via SoftPro 360 at a cost of $2 per file, or by visiting the FinCEN website
  
• Contact SoftPro Sales at 800-848-0143 or sales@softprocorp.com for help getting started with SoftPro 360
  

agentTRAX
All Editions of SoftPro
Exclusively for use by agents of Fidelity, Chicago Title, and Commonwealth Title and available within SoftPro 360

• Send and receive ALTA FinCEN Buyer/Seller Collection Form data
  • Request data from the parties involved
  • Buyer/seller data pre-populates in the Real Estate Reports fields
• Store certified buyer/seller data
  • View buyer and seller certifications and download a copy of the completed certification 
• Create the Real Estate Report and submit to FinCEN
  • Real Estate Report is automatically generated using the buyer/seller data
  • Submit the Real Estate Report securely and electronically from inside agentTRAX
• Access a consolidated dashboard view of all data and actions

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